BISD Library Media Specialist
2015-2016 Newsletters
December Information
Hope everyone had a relaxing, restful Thanksgiving Holiday.
It's hard to believe that December is upon us and we are winding down the first semester.
Meeting
Our December meeting is next week, Thursday, December 10 at 3:00 at PRC.
Please use the link below to register in eduphoria for the meeting.
https://eduphoria.brazosportisd.net/wshop/default.aspx?cid=7907
Bell Ringing
I have signed us up to ring the bell on December 10 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Kroger in Clute. For any who can go let's go have coffee after our meeting and then go to ring the Bell. Your spouses, and children are welcome to join us. Come for the whole time, part of the time, 10 minutes! If you can't, it's OK! I'm sure there will be enough of us to represent the BISD Librarians!!
Christmas Party
You and your spouse are invited to our
2nd Annual BISD Library Media Specialist Christmas Party.
Friday, December 11, 2015
6:30 pm
Michelle Griffith's house
64 Bluebell Court
Lake Jackson, TX
BYOB
Bring a snack to share
RSVP - 236-7027 (or email me!)
Craft Evening
Some of you might have seen a post on Facebook with crafts to make using old books.
Carol, Deani, and a few others indicated they were interested in getting together. If you'd like to come over for an evening of crafting - let me know.
Goodbye September 9/30/2015
I don't know about you all but the "ber" months are my favorite ones of the year! I mean they have all the really good holidays! Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday(yes I count this as a holiday), Christmas and New Year's eve!
The days are getting shorter and the weather is finally getting cooler. As much as this makes everyone think of getting cuddly, our work is just starting to get really hetic! Classes are in full swing, AR is up and running at all the schools who came back and the reading is happening!
Capstone order/Pebble Go - The PO has been sent to Capstone and I am waiting on our log in information for our new Pebble Go subscriptions! As soon as I get them I will add the link to our MackinVia for all the elementary schools.
AR information in PAC - If you haven't looked yet, when you look up in the catalog now the AR levels are in the corner of the books on the kids Catalog and you see them in the record in the other PAC. They pull this information from Renaissance not our catalog, so you might see levels you didn't even know had tests!
We are still working on making sure other parts of the PAC are correct - like not all the titles in a series showing up when you have all the books in the series, or why all the pictures are not there!
Meeting with TLC rep - I met with our TLC rep week before last and he had some good news to share.
- Web based cataloging is in the works!!!! Probably within the next year!
- A new upgrade is available and I will schedule it for October/Nov.
- The new upgrade will also have a feature where you MUST respond if a book is turned in and a fine had been charged. You will have to select waive or refund.
- I also asked about being able to print a receipt after you have already gotten out of that screen.
Cataloging - Please remember that we do not use juvenile fiction or sears subject headings in the 600, 650, tags. If you see them in the records please delete them. You can not simply delete the juvenile word - you must also change the indicator from 0 to 1, if these are legitimate Library of Congress subject headings for children.
Also if you are cataloging and the book has an AR test, please add the 526 tag with the AR information.
Next Meeting - October 8, 2015 - 3:00 at PRC.
Days Are Flying By!
Here are some of the latest updates.
Meeting - Our meeting was very productive. A huge thank you to Karen Perryman for taking meeting notes. I will upload those to our Google site for all of you who couldn't be there.
Schedules - Please send me a copy of your schedule for this year.
AR - I think we finally have all the PO's submitted. Jennifer Ivy is working on getting everyone up and running hopefully soon. I am checking daily and will assign product as soon as I see it available for your school. The great news is that now that you are back with AR when you renew next year your service will not be interrupted!
Barcodes - Please respond to the email I sent about the need for barcodes. If you don't need them please shoot me a short - "Not Me!" We do have to order them by the 1000 so if you have less than 5 sheets we should probably order you some more.
Pebble Go - Great news! Pebble Go was approved for purchase in our budget this year for our elementary campuses. Those campuses also need to get me their $270 worth of book titles ASAP so I can send them to Pam.
Meeting with Pam Allen - Pam Allen is our Capstone rep. She would like to meet with you to go over the new books coming out this Fall and Spring. This is your choice. You do not have to meet with her, however, she normally brings free books for your campus and she is a wealth of information.
MARC Extract One Location - What is this? and Do you have this on your computer?
This allows you to extract your records for only your location. You should have this program on your computer but some have said theirs is not working. I need to know
a) Do you have this on your computer? and b) Does it work?
TCEA - Registration is open if you are interested in going. It would be a campus expense since it was not approved on our amended budget. Secondary folks this would be an awesome experience if you have not attended. Talk with your principals and see if there might be campus money for you to attend.
Name that Book 2016-2017 - It is hard to believe that it is September 17th already. I know we don't even have the questions finished or the books read for this year's titles. But.................... Please start making a list of books that you want to be considered for next year's list. I have shared a new Google Sheet with you for you to put your consideration books on. So as you are perusing book stores or journals in your spare time, start notating the new books that look promising.
Name that Book 2015-2016 - Please start writing questions for the books on this year's list as you read them. We need at least 10 possible questions for each book that could possibly be used in the competition.
Cover One Machines - The cover one machines have been given to Brazosport HS, Brazoswood HS, Clute, LJI and Freeport Intermediates. If you need to repair books either take the books to them or arrange for them to bring the machine to the meeting and exchange there. They are not heavy. Once we run out of mending supplies we will each need to order some more. If you want one for your own campus - they are available with Scholastic dollars.
Sebco ebooks - The Brazoria County Libraries are offering Sebco ebooks!
Go to http://library.esebco.com/site/login the username is Brazoria the password is books. You will need your library card information to access this resource, but it would be a great one to share with your students!
Promote getting their library cards.
Public Libraries - Please talk with your public librarians in your neighborhoods. They would love to come and talk to your students about available resources. This would make a great addition to any evening Family event you have. Families could sign up for library cards. They have resources that they are willing to share.
I know this is alot to take in! I am just as overwhelmed, because I know I am forgetting something. If you need anything just give me a call or shoot me an email. I have a pretty packed schedule on T, W, Th, but please know that I will call you back if I don't answer the phone right away.
I am here if you need me!
August 31, 2015 - Happy Second Week of School!
Renaissance Learning - The 2015-2016 rollover has been completed and you can tell your RTI folks that they can STAR test with no problems. (or let's hope anyway!) Remember that you can not add students, teachers, classes, etc to your school. If you have issues with folks not being able to log in or have classes having access, etc. Email me with as much information as possible and I will get to it as quickly as I can. There is a warning on STAR log in screen that our subscription expires today. Ren Learn is aware that we can not generate PO's until tomorrow and they have given us a grace period to work with
AR - For those of you who are coming back to AR your AR will start as soon as the PO is generated and faxed to Ren Learn. Please print the Quote and give it to your school secretary - or whoever does the purchasing. Ask them to please put in the request ASAP tomorrow and reference the Quote number, and to then ask the principal to approve it. You saw the email that went to Rebecca Kelley and Casey Cowley so they know as well. As soon as you get the PO it needs to be faxed to Ren Learn, the number on the fax.
Please send me an email and let me know the PO # for your subscription. I am keeping these on file just in case their are questions.
TLC - As you can see the responsible parties are in and you can print barcodes! Use Internet explorer to print the barcodes if you are doing them on labels. They line up better. If you have other issues with TLC please let me know.
MARC MAgician - If you have put your records in for the Mackin books you will know that you are getting an error in the 260 field in MARC Magician. The publisher info is in the 264 field. 264 is the new RDA field for publisher info, but MARC Magician is not set to, nor will it be set up to, accept this new field. This is an issue that we ran into last year, there is a work around that I will share with you at our meeting, however it is a laborious process. You can upload and Merge these files straight into CIRC and then check the books in cataloging.
First Meeting - Our first meeting is Thursday, Sept 10 at 3:00 at the PRC. Please be sure to register in Eduphoria. Our monthly meetings are always packed and there is much information to share so please make every effort to attend the meetings.
I know there is more that I need to share with you, but I want to get this to you ASAP.
Hope your week is good!
August 23, 2015 - Welcome Back
Email - Please check your email daily. So much information goes out by email and if you do not check it first thing in the morning, mid day and in the afternoon you will miss things. We reach out to each other for help, send updates, and share ideas through email. Be sure to check it often and respond as quickly as you can.
TLC - Responsible Parties - They are not there! (or they weren't at 3:00 Sunday when I left school) I am calling TLC first thing Monday morning to find out what's the problem. I reached out to Shirely Ermis last Friday and she thinks her extract is correct, so we will see what happens from there. I will email you when I find out what's going on.
You can still check out books to teachers and students. You just can not run barcodes grouped by responsible parties (teachers) yet.
Renaissance Place - STAR screener and AR - The extract did not run with the RDI so the new school year update has not taken place yet. Please pass on the information to your RTI folks, and teachers. I have an email out to our Ren Learn RDI rep and I will touch base with her on Monday to trouble shoot what is going on.
STAR screen windows open up next Monday, August 31.
Mackin Books - Thank you to everyone who helped check in the many boxes! Our students are coming back to many new wonderful books! Every BISD campus received all the Name that Book Titles for their respective grade levels and 6 of our school received books: Fleming , Jane Long, Lanier, Velasco, Polk, and Stephen F. Austin from our District Book budget.
If you have not picked up your boxes of books, please make arrangements to come get them.
MackinVia - Google authentication - I will be talking to Mackin and our tech departments about trying to set this up for our district. Right now remember that your new Kindergarteners and any new students to your campus do not have a backpack yet. They will have to be added. I can get an extract from Shirley to work on this. It is my goal to have the new extract uploaded by next week.
The Google authentication will take a little time if it is doable so please be patient.
Meetings - Our meetings are either the 1st or 2nd Thursday of the month at 3:00 at the PRC. We share a great deal of information at our meetings so it is important that you are there.
International Dot Day - If you haven't signed your school up yet to participate go to
http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/get-started You can download a PDF Educators handbook with lots of activities.
Kate DiCamillo Live Video Conference - http://pittsburghlectures.org/kids-and-teens/mercywatson/ Go to the link to sign up your school.
Upcoming Events -
September 1 - National Library Card Sign Up day - Give a shout out to your public library today and encourage kids to get their library cards.
September 4-6 - Amazing Houston Comic Con
September 10 - Library Media Specialist Meeting 3:00 - sign up in Eduphoria
September 10 - Scholastic Book Fair Workshop - after our meeting
September 11 - Patriot Day
September 15 - International Dot Day